Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders stayed away from attending the dharna organised by MLC Kalvakuntla Kavitha against issuing notices to party supremo and her father K Chandrashekar Rao. A few loyalists and followers of Kavitha only were present in the protest on Wednesday at Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad.

The Telangana Jagruti leader took a swipe at Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy for maintaining silence on the construction of projects on river Godavari by the Andhra Pradesh government. She demanded the Chief Minister to lodge a complaint with the Union government against AP for constructing the Banakacharla project on Godavari.

Kavitha questioned Revanth Reddy for maintaining silence on his AP counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu’s quick moves to complete the Banakacharla project without water allocations and permissions. She demanded the CM to bring the issue to the notice of Apex Council and Union Jal Shakti ministry and protect the interests of the Telangana state. The BRS rebel leader also criticised Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay for not opposing the Banakacharla project which she says is detrimental to Telangana’s interests.

Explaining the reasons for taking up the Kaleshwaram project by the previous BRS government, Kavitha said that the biggest lift scheme in the country provided a facility to utilise 140 tmcft of Godavari waters. The Pranahita–Chevella project envisaged by the Congress government in the erstwhile united Andhra Pradesh could only draw 16 tmcft of water.

Announcing that she will launch a movement demanding to allocate more water for Telangana, Kavitha said that the government owed the responsibility of the repairs of the damaged barrages, including Medigadda, without any delay.

Only the Kaleshwaram project will fetch the water needs of Telangana in the future, she said, appealing to BJP MP Eatala Rajendar to come forward and protect the state’s interests in water allocations and utilisation.